Israeli military pushes deeper into Gaza as IDF targets Hamas anti-tank, rocket positions

U.S. forces in western Iraq were targeted in another drone attack early Tuesday morning, according to a report, marking the latest in a string of assaults on American troops in the Middle East as the Israel-Hamas war continues.

Two armed drones were used against Iraq’s Ain al-Asad airbase, Reuters reported, citing a security source and a government source. The base hosts international troops that assist Iraq in defeating a terror group called the Daesh, or the Islamic State. No casualties or damage were reported.

Tuesday's attack would be the 25th on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria since Oct. 17. The attacks have included a mix of one-way drones and rockets, resulting in the death of an American contractor and 24 injured troops, according to U.S. defense officials.

The attacks have increased in recent weeks as President Biden and other senior leaders continue to express support for Israel and its right to defend itself after one of the worst terror attacks in decades left more than 1,400 people dead, including 34 Americans.

According to Reuters, a group called the "Islamic resistance in Iraq" endorsed the attack, which took place less than 24 hours after another missile attack from the same base in Iraq.

On Monday, five rockets landed a mile away from the al-Asad Air Base.

No injuries to American soldiers or the base were reported. Coalition forces also were not injured.

Fox News' Lawrence Richard contributed to this report.

A prominent Cornell University professor has called on the school’s board of trustees to take action after a series of antisemitic and anti-Israel incidents have left Jewish students feeling uncomfortable and unsafe on campus.

William A. Jacobson, a clinical professor at Cornell Law School who joined the faculty in 2007, called on the Cornell Board of Trustees to pause new Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism and form a special independent commission to investigate antisemitism on campus and the negative effects of DEI.

"There has been a long problem at Cornell that the administration has just shut its eyes to. The faculty is extremely anti-Israel, not necessarily the majority of them, but there is a core group of faculty who agitate continuously for the destruction of Israel," Jacobson told Fox News Digital.

"They claim it's a colonialist state, even though the Jews are the indigenous people of the land of Israel. They claim that you need to liberate Israel, but who are you going to liberate from the people who have the historical claim to it? But it's nonstop. It's all the time, and that has a very pernicious effect on campus," he continued.

"I've heard from a lot of students, and I've seen a lot of chatter that Jewish students in particular are extremely upset. They were extremely upset with the vituperative hostility towards Israel expressed by numerous student groups, expressed by faculty, and they don't feel welcome at Cornell. They feel there's a problem here. And I think the administration needs to get a handle on that."

On Sunday, it was revealed that Cornell University police are investigating a series of threats made against the school’s Jewish community. The threats were posted to a website not affiliated with the university and targeted "104 West," where the Center of Jewish Living is located on campus. One of the threats called for people to follow a Jewish person home and "slit their throats," adding, "Rats need to be eliminated from Cornell."

Fox News' Brian Flood contributed to this report.

The head of a United Nations agency said during an emergency meeting Monday that "an immediate humanitarian ceasefire has become a matter of life and death for millions."

Philippe Lazzarini, the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), warned against additional fighting in Gaza, where Israeli forces are launching a ground invasion to eliminate Hamas, which governs the territory.

Lazzarini warned Israel against the "collective punishment" of Palestinians and said a further breakdown of civil order following the looting of the agency’s warehouses by Palestinians searching for food and other aid "will make it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for the largest U.N. agency in Gaza to continue operating."

Lazzarini, flanked by the head of the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF and a senior U.N. humanitarian official, provided briefings to the Security Council, where the officials painted a dire picture of the humanitarian situation in Gaza after more than a million people have been displaced. The meeting comes 23 days after Hamas’ surprise Oct. 7 attacks in Israel that killed over 1,400 people.

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, which is run by Hamas, more than 8,300 civilians have been killed and tens of thousands have been injured since Israel launched retaliatory military action aimed at "obliterating" Hamas.

UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said the death toll includes more than 3,400 children, adding that over 6,300 have been injured.

"This means that more than 420 children are being killed or injured in Gaza each day — a number which should shake each of us to our core," she said.

Fox News' Lawrence Richard contributed to this report.

Democratic Rep. Andre Carson, who was one of 10 Democrats to vote against a resolution to condemn Hamas terrorist attack in Israel, has a long history of anti-Israel activism that has sparked controversy.

Carson's stance on Israel was front and center over the weekend when he called fellow Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer, N.J., a "coward," "punk" and "gangster" for his criticism against lawmakers who voted against a resolution to condemn Hamas and support Israel. Gottheimer, who is Jewish, used the word "despicable" to describe Democrats who opposed the resolution.

Fox News Digital reviewed Carson's previous positions on Israel and found several examples of the congressman advocating anti-Israel positions.

In 2015, Carson met with Louis Farrakhan and told media outlets in 2018 he would not rule out meeting with him again in the future.

Farrakhan has  called Jewish people "termites", praised Hitler, and been criticized for a litany of derogatory statements about Israel.

Carson has opposed recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel as recently as 2017 and in 2019 Carson defended Rep. Ihan Omar when she was accused by House Republicans of antisemitism.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Monday refused to call anti-Israel protestors on college campuses across America "extremists," despite antisemitic rhetoric, violence, and rising fear among Jewish students.

The exchange took place during the White House press briefing when Fox News' Peter Doocy asked Jean-Pierre over whether President Biden saw those protestors as "extremists."

"What I can say is — what we've been very clear about this when it comes to antisemitism, there is no place. We have to make sure that we speak against it very loud and be very clear about that," Jean-Pierre said, adding that Biden decided to run for president in 2017 as a result of the violent Charlottesville, Virginia protest clash that year.

"He saw neo-Nazis marching down the streets of Charlottesville with vile, anti-Semitic, just hatred. And he was very clear then, and he's very clear now. He's taken actions against this over the past two years. And he's continued to be clear: There is no place, no place for this type of vile — and this kind of rhetoric," she said.

Doocy pressed Jean-Pierre, saying, "We hear you guys though talk about extremists all the time. It is usually about MAGA extremists. So what about these protesters who are making Jewish students feel unsafe on college campuses?"

"I have been very, very clear.  We are calling out any form of hate, any form of hate. It is not acceptable. It should not be acceptable here. And we are going to continue to call that out," she said, again refusing to say whether the protestors were "extremists."

Fox News' Brandon Gillespie contributed to this report.

During a White House meeting, President Biden reportedly blasted The New York Times’ controversial coverage of an explosion near a Gaza Strip hospital.  

A report from Semafor alleged that Biden met with Wall Street executives in the White House’s Roosevelt Room last week and discussed the paper along with its claim that Israel was behind the explosion. He was particularly disturbed such a headline appeared "in an American newspaper."

"Israeli Strike Kills Hundreds in Hospital, Palestinians Say," the original New York Times headline read on Oct. 17.

According to Semafor, "[Biden] thought the headline was irresponsible and could have triggered military escalation in the Middle East." Within the same day of the headline’s publication and others like it blaming Israel for the blast, prominent Arab leaders canceled their meeting with Biden.

The Times received intense backlash for its headline on Oct. 17 as well as its coverage on the explosion. The story claimed, through information released by the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, that Israeli airstrikes caused an explosion at a Gaza hospital that killed hundreds. Israel denied the claims and presented evidence that the Palestinian Islamic Jihad was behind the blast. U.S. intelligence confirmed that Israel was not behind the explosion.

The Times soon released a lengthy editor’s note apologizing for its reliance on unverified claims by Hamas.

Fox News' Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report.

Israeli ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan invoked the Holocaust during a bitter condemnation of the UN Security Council's response to the October 7 terrorist attacks on Monday.

Erdan delivered the critical remarks at an emergency meeting requested by the United Arab Emirates. He accused the council of being silent about Hamas' attacks against Israelis, likening it to the international ignorance of the Holocaust during World War II.

"Today, after innocent Jewish babies were burned alive, this Council is still silent. Some of you have learned nothing in the past 80 years," Erdan argued. "Some of you have forgotten why this body was established."

"Instead of shouting ‘Sieg Heil,’ these radical Nazi Islamists scream, ‘Death to Israel! Death to America! Death to England!’" he added. "We were attacked by the Hamas Nazis. We were shown that genocidal Jew-hatred did not die with Hitler, it bubbled and grew, until it invaded our homeland."

The ambassador also announced that he will wear a yellow star until the council explicitly condemns Hamas.

"Just like my grandparents, and the grandparents of millions of Jews, from now on, my team and I will wear yellow stars. We will wear this star until you wake up and condemn the atrocities of Hamas," Erdan said. "We will walk with a yellow star as a symbol of pride. A reminder that we swore to fight back to defend ourselves."

Fox News Digital's Greg Wehner contributed to this report.

Israeli citizens in the North Caucasus are urged by their country's government to leave the region after the Makhachkala airport riot took place on Sunday.

The Israeli government raised its travel warning to the area to the highest level, 4, on Monday. They ask citizens to avoid Dagestan, where the riot took place, and neighboring regions. Israelis currently in the regions are urged to leave.

The airport in Makhachkala, located in southwestern Russia, was stormed by hundreds of men on Sunday night. Many were carrying Palestinian flags, while others were yelling antisemitic slogans.

Russian news sources reported that the men were looking for a flight that was due to land from Tel Aviv. Police arrested over 60 men, and at least 20 people were injured.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Law enforcement officials arrested a Las Vegas man who allegedly threatened a Jewish U.S. senator, as antisemitism in the U.S. is on the rise amid the Israel-Hamas war.

In a criminal complaint, the Department of Justice accused John Anthony Miller, 43, of leaving several threatening voicemails on the office phone of Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev.

Rosen, who is Jewish, received the voicemails between October 11 and 19.

In one of the voicemails, Miller allegedly asked Rosen if she had any family members who were Israeli settlers.

"She lets her own family members kill these Pe-Palestinians in the West Bank. The Christians in the West Bank," Miller reportedly said in the voicemail. "Senator, I’m sorry to say, but yah know what, you’re a piece of [expletive] and you’re gonna burn in [expletive]ing [expletive] for your [expletive]ing crimes."

Read more by clicking here

Fox News Digital's Greg Wehner, David Spunt and Jake Gibson contributed to this report.

The White House condemned the anti-Semitic riot in Makhachkala, Russia, in which a group of rioters flooded the city airport's runway on Sunday looking for an Israeli flight.

The riot forced officials to close the airport and divert flights that were headed to Makhachkala, which is in the Republic of Dagestan. Young men in the riot were heard yelling "Allahu Akbar" and making disparaging remarks about Jews.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby compared the chaos to the anti-Jewish pogroms of the 19th and 20th centuries. He made the statement on Monday, after press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre referenced anti-Semitism on U.S. college campuses in a briefing.

"I just want to add just one little thought here on top of Karine's excellent comments on anti-Semitism," the official began. "I think you all saw what happened in Dagestan, Russia yesterday in what can only be described as a chilling demonstration of hate, bigotry, intimidation."

"Some people have compared it to the pogroms of the late 19th and early 20th century, and I think that's probably an apt description given that video that we've seen out there," Kirby added.

Fox News Digital's Brandon Gillespie contributed to this report.

U.S. forces in the Middle East have been attacked for the 24th time since October 17, amid the war between the Israeli military and Hamas terrorists.

The attack, which was announced on Monday afternoon, took place close to the Asad Air Base in Iraq. American defense officials say that five rockets landed roughly a mile away from the base.

No injuries to American soldiers or the base were reported. Coalition forces also were not injured.

A U.S. official emphasized that the rockets were not significant threats to the American military.

Iran-backed militias have been claiming the recent attacks against American forces. Last week, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq took responsibility for an attack at the al-Tanf garrison in Syria.

The U.S. military responded by launching airstrikes on facilities belonging to Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and other militants in Syria in Thursday.

Fox News Digital's Liz Friden, Elizabeth Pritchett and Lawrence Richard contributed to this report.

Shani Louk, the German-Israeli woman whose semi-naked body was seen paraded through the streets of Gaza, was beheaded, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) officials believe.

Louk was believed to be one of the living hostages that Hamas terrorists captured during the Re'im musical festival massacre on October 7.

"We are devastated to share that the body of 23-year-old German-Israeli Shani Luk [sic] was found and identified," the Israeli government wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Monday morning. "Shani, who was kidnapped from a music festival and tortured and paraded around Gaza by Hamas terrorists, experienced unfathomable horrors. Our hearts are broken. May her memory be a blessing."

Israeli officials concluded that she was beheaded after they identified a skull with a DNA match.

"I am truly sorry to report that we have now received news that Shani Nicole Louk has been confirmed murdered and dead," Israeli President Yitchak Herzog explained to German newspaper BILD. "Her skull has been found."

Fox News Digital's Greg Wehner contributed to this report.

Warning: This story contains graphic details that may be disturbing to some readers.

Israeli officials are still struggling to identify the remains of those killed by Hamas terrorists, as the country's war against the militant group continues into its fourth week.

Authorities say that the reason is not just because of the massive scope of the attacks that began on October 7, but the sheer brutality of how terrorists murdered civilians.

"During a war, each side tries to make a convincing argument that they are right but these kinds of atrocities we have not seen since the days of the Nazis," Col. Rabbi Haim Weisberg, head of the Shura Army Base's rabbinic division, said in an interview. 

"They went from house to house burning family after family," he explained. "We are seeing trucks still arriving filled with body bags that contain whole families – grandparents, mothers, fathers, and even little children are being brought down from the trucks." 

"Here we have identified hundreds of bodies and there are still many more waiting to be examined," the rabbi said.

Fox News Digital's Ruth Marks Eglash contributed to this report.

Fox News foreign affairs correspondent Greg Palkot joined "America Reports" on Monday to provide an update on accelerating military activity from Hezbollah at the Israeli border.

Palkot explained that there is a "definite" increase in activity from the Iranian-backed terrorist group.

"Hezbollah and related militant groups [have] been firing missiles, rockets, mortars at a greater pace, a stronger punch, deeper into Israeli territory, even claiming to have knocked down an Israeli drone," he explained. "And Israel has been firing back harder as well. We've been watching artillery, tanks and those drones used against Hezbollah."

The correspondent showed footage from a hot spot he visited earlier on Monday, an Israeli military base on the country's border with Lebanon.

"We're told Hezbollah hits that place just about every day," Palkot explained.

"The Israeli Defense Force sent out a clear message today: any Hezbollah or allied militant gets near the security border fence will be eliminated," he added.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu flatly rejected calls for a cease-fire in comments to the press on Monday.

Netanyahu compared the October 7 massacre by Hamas to the Pearl Harbor and 9-11 attacks on the U.S., saying Israel is equally justified in retaliating against Hamas terrorists in Gaza. He went on to say that Israel will continue its war against Hamas "until victory."

"Calls for a cease-fire are calls for Israel to surrender to Hamas, to surrender to terrorism, to surrender to barbarism. That will not happen," Netanyahu said.

"Ladies and gentlement, the Bible says that there is a time for peace and a time for war. This is a time for war. A war for our common future," he continued. "Today we draw a line between the forces of civilization and the forces of barbarism. It is a time for everyone to decide where they stand. Israel will stand against the forces of barbarism until victory. I hope and pray that civilized nations everywhere will back this fight."

Israeli forces entered the second stage of their conflict with Hamas this week, greatly expanding ground operations within the Gaza strip. Military officials have warned that the war will be long and difficult.

The World Bank is warning Monday that the prices of oil and other commodities could see "large increases" if the Israel-Hamas war spreads through the Middle East.

The Washington-based institution said in its October 2023 Commodity Markets Outlook report that despite commodity markets responding "calmly" to the war, "historical precedent" suggests that escalating conflict in the region could substantially disrupt commodity supply.

"Although neither Israel nor Gaza is a major energy producer, an escalation of the conflict and its spread to the wider region could lead to large increases in the prices of oil and other commodities," the report says. "Historical precedent also indicates this could have destabilizing implications for the global economy. Moreover, spillovers to food prices could exacerbate food insecurity in conflict-afflicted areas in the region and around the world."

If that happens, depending on the level of impact to the global oil supply, the World Bank says prices per barrel could rise from the 2023 Q4 baseline forecast of $90 a barrel to around $102 in a "small disruption scenario" to as much as $157 a barrel in a "large disruption scenario." 

Fox News' Greg Norman contributed to this report

The Israeli military succeeded in liberating a female soldier on Monday who had been taken captive by Hamas during its October 7 attack on Israel.

Private Ori Megidish was freed from captivity overnight during the ongoing ground operation. She was originally taken from the Nahal Oz base on October 7.

“The soldier was medically examined, her condition is good and she met with her family," the Israeli Defense Forces said in a statement.

Megidish was one of nearly 240 people taken hostage in the Oct. 7 attack.

Ethnic studies professors demanded the University of California stop referring to Hamas’ attack on Israeli civilians as "terrorism," arguing in a letter to administrators that such language endangers students.

"We call on the UC administrative leadership to retract its charges of terrorism, to uplift the Palestinian freedom struggle, and to stand against Israel’s war crimes against and ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Palestinian people," a statement from the University of California Ethnic Studies Faculty Council reads in part.

Hamas terrorists launched a surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7, firing thousands of rockets and slaying civilians in the streets. At least 1,400 Israeli citizens and 33 Americans were killed. Israel's retaliatory strikes have killed more than 7,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry.

At least 10 Americans may be among the 239 people held hostage by Hamas.

UC leaders condemned the "horrific attack" in a statement on Oct. 9, calling it an "act of terrorism" and highlighting the "loss of many innocent lives and the abduction of innocent hostages, including children and the elderly."

But the UC Ethnic Studies Faculty Council said administrators' use of the terms "terrorism" and "unprovoked" have stoked anti-Muslim sentiments and "made Palestinian students and community members unsafe." The group cited the recent stabbing death of a 6-year-old Palestinian-American boy in Illinois.

Fox News' Hannah Ray Lambert contributed to this report.

An Israeli police officer is in serious, but stable condition after a 17-year-old Palestinian stabbed him without warning in Jerusalem on Monday.

The terrorist attempted to take the officer's weapon before fleeing the scene. Another office soon shot and killed the Palestinian.

Israeli authorities have warned citizens to be vigilant against terror attacks as the Israeli Defense Forces prosecute their war against Hamas in Gaza.

Local media says footage of police chasing the young Palestinian circulated on social media on Monday.